Audley Boyd, Assistant Sport Editor
England's Pamela Cookey. - FILE
ENGLAND'S NET-BALLERS are focused on winning the three-Test series against Jamaica's Sunshine Girls at the weekend.
A 13-member squad and five officials - headed by coach Margaret Caldow - from the British Isles arrived here yesterday afternoon for the matches that both countries are using to enhance their preparation for the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia from March 15-26.
Eight of the English girls played at the last World Netball Championships held here in 2003. They are Sonia Mkloma, Geva Mentor, Abby Teare, Amanda Newton, Olivia Murphy, Naomi Siddall, Karen Aspinall-Atkinson and Jade Clarke. Other squad members are newcomers Louisa Brownfield, Ama Agbeze, Rachel Dunne, as well as Pamela Cookey and Chioma Ezeogu.
EMPHATIC 3-0 WIN
Caldow's assistant is Maggie Jackson, while Leslie Dixon (assistant manager), Emma Batchelor (physiotherapist), Dr. Christian Verrinder (team doctor) are the other team officials.
England registered an emphatic 3-0 win over South Africa in their last international series and Caldow says they are aiming for similar success, but admits it will be difficult.
"Jamaica's ranked three at the moment and England four so it's extremely competitive between the two teams. We know it's going to be a tough series here.
"I want to clear the air and say it's not a practice session, it's a three-Test series. There's a big difference between a Test series and a practice session, so we're taking this one very serious," Caldow told The Gleaner.
The last time both teams met, in a three-Test series in England last June, Jamaica won the first by a goal, the next was tied and England took the final match by 11 goals.
The Sunshine Girls, with a much-changed team, participated in a couple of tri-nation series since, losing heavily to both world number one and two-ranked New Zealand and Australia respectively.
TOUGH MATCH
Despite that, Caldow, reasoning more on the basis of their last match-up, predicts that the evening meetings against Jamaica on Thursday (6:00 p.m.), Friday (5:30 p.m.) and Sunday (5:00 p.m.) at the National Indoor Sports Centre will be 'tough'.
"There's not a lot between us. We know it's gonna be tough and it's gonna be hard and we certainly give Jamaica a great deal of respect.
"They're a great netball nation and highly regarded around the world, so it's a tough one for us but we're really looking forward to it. We need it, we're looking forward to it," she reiterated.
"It's our last shoot-out for the Commonwealth Games. We've just come off a very successful series in South Africa in November and we're looking to do the same here in Jamaica and go into the Commonwealth Games well-tuned and ready for the competition that awaits us there."
